ABSTRACT
When the ideas of ‘nation’, ‘nation state’ and ‘nationalism’ were introduced to China in the late 19th century, Chinese scholars noticed that nationalism might lead to confl ict between some ethnic groups in the multiethnic China and thus pose a threat to national unity.3 Liang Qichao (1873-1929), one of China’s leading enlightenment thinkers, therefore developed the theory of ‘Big Nationalism’ and ‘Small Nationalism’. According to this theory, every ethnic group in China, such as the Han, the Zhuang, the Miao, the Manchus, the Mongols, the Tibetans, the Uyghur and the Hui, has its own ‘Small Nationalism’, while ‘Big Nationalism’ unites all ethnic groups together to stand against foreign powers, namely the Western colonial powers and imperial Japan.4 He stated, ‘Big Nationalism should be promoted. . . . The Han, the Manchu, the Meng [Mongols], the Hui [Muslims], the Miao and the Zang [Tibetans] should be united under one nation state’.5
